NORFOLK, Va. – Four Old Dominion University wrestlers have been nationally ranked in the Wrestler Insider News Magazine Preseason Wrestling Poll. The squad was also ranked 20th in the 2014-15 team rankings.

Old Dominion collected a projected Tournament Power Index of 20.5 to place them at No. 20 in the rankings. The wrestling Monarchs are coming off a solid 2013-14 campaign, in which the team compiled a 4-4 record within the Mid American Conference and won five of their last seven dual meets as a first-year member of the conference. They also secured an impressive third-place finish at the MAC Tournament and sent six wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City where they finished tied for 22nd with UVA.

Redshirt sophomore Jack Dechow (Richmond, Ill.) led the team with a second-place ranking in the 184 lbs. weight class. Last season, Dechow recorded a 21-6 overall record and went 11-3 in duals. He earned a bid to the 2014 NCAA Championships after winning the 184-pound MAC title by defeating Northern Iowa’s All-American Ryan Loder. The 2014 All-American went the furthest of any Old Dominion wrestler at the NCAA Tournament, finishing in fourth place.

At 141 pounds, redshirt junior Chris Mecate (Highland, Calif.) comes in at No. 10 by WIN Magazine after he went 28-9 a season ago. Mecate placed second at the MAC Tournament at 141 lbs. and qualified for the NCAA Championship for the second-consecutive season where he entered as the No. 5 seed. Throughout his sophomore campaign, Mecate took down 11 NCAA qualifiers.

Coming in at No. 13 is Alex Richardson (Jersey City, N.J.) at 149 pounds. The junior went 26-9 last season and recorded eight victories over NCAA qualifiers during the season. He finished second at the MAC Tournament and received a bid as the No. 16 seed for the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year.

Redshirt senior Tristan Warner (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) was picked No. 17 in the 157-pound weight class after going 19-13 last season. He picked up six victories over national qualifiers throughout the year and placed fourth at the MAC Tournament. His fourth-place finish earned him his second NCAA trip in three years. Warner was also a standout in the classroom last year, as he was named Capital One Academic All-District, MAC All-Academic and won the prestigious Elite 89 award.

ODU will officially begin the season with a pair of opens on back-to-back weekends in November. First the squad will head north to the Binghamton Open on Nov. 9 where three-time defending national champions Penn State will likely be in the mix. ODU will then trek to Raleigh, N.C. on Nov. 16 for the Wolfpack Open.

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